Treasury anger at Darling’s silence on stamp duty

Chancellor Alistair Darling has rejected a third request for a meeting with
estate agents over proposals to lift stamp duty, refusing to be pushed on the
issue.

Whitehall sources have told The Times there was increasing anger
within the Treasury over the fallout of the stamp duty issue, which aids of
Darling and department officials have been left to field.

Peter Bolton-King, theNational Association of Estate
Agents‘ chief executive, said he had written to the chancellor for the third
time enclosing details of a survey conducted by his organisation, showing one in
four estate agents had seen agreed house sales fall through as a direct result
of the uncertainty.

But Treasury aides said the chancellor was adamant that he was not going to
be pushed into taking any action on stamp duty.